2005 Engine Masters Challenge - Qualifications

The battle for the Engine Masters Challenge begins long before the first engine is uncrated at World Products for a shot against the DTS dyno. Fielding an entry begins with long and thoughtful planning, using the best of a builder's knowledge, and experience in coming up with a combination. To have a shot at the money, it takes having the very best ideas, and more importantly, taking the theory and making it real in metal. Parts need to be ordered, made, and pipelined-in, often only to be heavily massaged and modified to be ready for a Challenge contender. The process can take months and untold hours, with crunch time being qualifying day. For some, it proves to be too much, with competitors falling to attrition, their race is over before even making the show. The toll was heavy this year. To the competitors who passed the test and made it to qualifying, we have to bow in congratulations for making it to that difficult point. Here's a full rundown of the field.

Donald's engine is a familiar piece to those who follow Engine Masters, since this is the same engine run as a 470 by Donald's father in the 2003 Challenge to earn a Second Place finish. That foundation presented a head start, but it took serious reworking to refine the engine for the 2005 rules. The engine was bored and filled with custom Wiseco pistons to meet the new displacement allowance, while the camshaft was changed from a flat-tappet to a serious roller grind. The resulting engine is a relatively large-bore combo. Detonation in qualifying created problems for Donald.

Basic Engine Specs

Size:

506.3 ci

Bore:

.420-inch, GM block

Stroke:

4.125-inch, Callies crank

Rods:

6.800-inch, Oliver

Compression ratio:

12.5:1 compression, Wiseco pistons

Heads:

brodix/Weld Tech

Intake:

brodix

Carb:

1050 Demon

Camshaft:

COMP, 245/251-duration, 0.770-inch lift

Score:

1,209.33

Top horsepower:

793 at 6,300 rpm

2/18

Blair Racing 385-Series FordGary BlairPylesville, MD * (410) 879-4056

Gary Blair's big-block Ford had all the makings of a competitor to be reckoned with, but all hopes for a strong showing were dashed when the distributor seized, snuffing out the big-bore Ford combination before it could show its mettle. Says Gary, "Since I was five years old I've been a Ford guy, and I've been building these for about 20 years. I favor a longer rod combination for less friction on the cylinder walls, and this one has offset wrist pins." Blair's combo was not short on valve size, with huge 2.400-inch intakes and 1.88-inch exhausts.

Judging by appearances, the big-block Chevy entry of Lennart and Birgitta Bergquist seemed sedate considering the monster hidden within. The Autoshop entry proved to be this year's champion, with the highest point count, while making the most outright power seen this year. Lennart experienced detonation last year, so for this entry, he dropped the compression ratio, added extensively to the use of thermal coatings, and ran a timing curve that takes 4 degrees out of the timing at the bottom.

Donovan believes the Cadillac is one of the best choices for a shootout like this. Donovan points out, "The Cadillac has the most production cubic inches; it's an excellent design. In the mid-'60s when it was designed, they had the best engineers GM ever had. It's a tall-deck block, 10.81 inches, with high-nickel content in the block and crankshaft. It's not a 45-degree bank angle; it's more like a 37 1/2-degree bank angle, tall and broad-shouldered." There was around 700 hp showing in warm-up, but a bearing problem leading to oil pressure loss led to a DNF.

Automotive Machine and Performance primarily do Buick crate motors. The Buick is physically smaller than a lot of other makes. According to Mike, "These engines were primarily made for cars like the Electra 225, but the Gran Sports are such popular cars that there are a lot of them left. There needs to be someone out there to build these motors the way customers want them--and that's what we do." Mike points out that for really high output, the block girdle in the bottom end is a key to longevity.

Bischoff brought a sledgehammer of a big-block Chevy, and walked out of the competition with a fat second-place finish. Tony's reasoning for the Chevy makes sense: "I built the big-block Chevy because it is has the most readily available racing parts and they are the least expensive, and I build more of these for customers than anything else." Tony's development program sought to push the limits on pump-gas power, while running clean: "On my dyno, the engine did not detonate at all in testing."

The most significant aspect to the returning two-time champion's Pontiac, besides being a Pontiac, was the phenomenal torque production from the bottom of our test range. The power and the score was there to threaten for the title right to the end, but dense air and an aggressive tune rattled the engine to fourth place in the final standings. Jon related, "I knew I'd have to find some power to beat Lennart, and with the tune-up where it was, I don't think the engine was there. I didn't expect the detonation to hammer it so badly. The engine is one exotic bag of tricks."

If you are into big-block FE Fords, the name Dove will likely be familiar. The Ohio-based operation manufactures many components to keep these classic big-block engines viable. Dove points out, "We make blocks, heads, manifolds, water pumps, all sorts of items for these engines." The team was planning on bringing an all-new FE built just for the competition, but delays forced them to substitute a well-used race engine first built in 1991. Despite the setback, the FE performed well, and completed qualifying without any problems.

Potter's Cadillac Performance Parts Cadillac was one of the more exotic entries, with evidence of his custom handiwork showing virtually anywhere you look. Cadillac Performance is committed to a development effort to bring out the best of these engines' potential. When queried about why the Caddy, Richard's answer went right back to the early days of hot-rod heritage: "Forty years ago dad used to build whisky cars, the old Fords, what you'd call g-Machines today. Everyone had the '40 Fords and '50 Fords, and we'd build Cadillac motors for them when they came out. They'd have lowered sway bars and 80-gallon holding tanks. We found these engines can make good power and no one was making parts, so we got into them. We've made 1,400 hp on alcohol with them."

The T&B effort was the only Mopar entry into this year's competition, and the team elected to build a small-bore, long-stroke combination based on a production 383 Chrysler block. The effort was a true family affair, with the whole Foley gang including the four children making the trip to World for the event. The block was reinforced by partially filling the water jackets and a CRE main girdle. B1 heads and intake were used.

ivernois was out to prove the worth of the big-block Ford, and by showing over 800 hp and scoring in the 1250s during qualifying, they certainly proved the point. The engine combination was slightly under-square, but you might notice from the configuration that builder Lohone did not go to extremes. The engine did, however, have one of the highest compression ratios run in this year's shoot-out, with just a tick under a 13:1 ratio squeezing the mix. To monitor detonation, the engine was equipped with a knock sensor, which provided a real-time LED display of the detonation level. Livernois' effort paid off with a third-place showing for the Ford.

Barry Rabotnick loves FE Fords. He has been building these engines since 1974, and enjoys the fact that they are not the norm. The block is from Genesis. Commenting on the Ford FE oiling system, Rabotnick noted, "These engines have a reputation for oiling problems, but from my standpoint, it is an undeserved reputation; I've never really done extensive modifications to one of these systems, it's more a matter of proper detailing." Barry noted that his engine program changed mid-stream: "My original concept relied on a crank that did not arrive in time, so I had to revise everything. This engine uses basic pieces that can be duplicated by anyone relatively easily."

he MPG Heads' Ford entry came into the competition in trouble when testing away from their local facility turned disastrous due to sub-standard fuel causing detonation and hammering the engine. In fact, the team heroically went to work to make repairs on-site at World, even replacing a seat insert in the heads. It just wasn't to be, since the sealing capabilities of the engine's bottom end were compromised, making the engine detonate and lose power in qualifying. Despite the effort, it was deemed prudent to withdraw during qualifying, leading to a DNF.

his engine was a joint effort with both Mile High and Pro Built contributing to the entry. The engine is a big-bore short-rod configuration. Jay explains, "I've always liked the big bore to help unshroud the valves. The rods help with the low octane; they pull away at the top. With less piston dwell it helps manage the cylinder pressure. We also went with a tight quench, a 0.039-inch head gasket, less the pistons being 0.003 inch out-of-the-hole, so you're looking at not very much clearance which makes excellent turbulence in the chamber."

Malik built a big-block Ford, however, he isn't brand-loyal. Randy explains, "I thought a big-block Chrysler would be the best, but I had all of these parts, so a Chrysler would have cost me three times as much. The big-block I ran in 2003 is this engine. I put a crank and rods and a roller cam in it, otherwise, it's basically the same engine. As far as trick parts, I wanted to mention the cam drive made by Scott Main, of MPG Heads. It lets me change the cam timing in the cell in seven minutes." A mysterious cooling problem caused overheating when the engine met the dyno, leading to a DNF.

Clayton's took a route that has proven popular in Engine Masters. Neil Clayton explained, "It's a small-bore, big-stroke, short-rod combination with relatively low compression." The heads are unusual, with a 2.350-inch intake valve, and a 1.800-inch exhaust, with an extremely small cross section. Neil elaborated, "The port is only 2.5 square inches in cross section; we're looking for high gas speeds and velocity to try making lots of torque. We were really short on developing this engine; we only had six hours on it. We lost 50 hp somewhere, and one possibility is the ignition, since we're running a different system from testing."

The Traco engine was a big-bore combination making extensive use of GM Performance Parts components. The highly detailed Chevrolet was tended to by a methodical Larry Salisbury, who was wrenching alone during the competition. The engine seemed to encounter a mechanical problem, which led to a rapidly declining score in successive pulls, although it completed the qualifying runs. We were disappointed that the problems prevented us seeing what this big-bore combo is truly capable of.

Ron was tempted by the Ford since Shaver's Specialty builds quite a few for off-road racing, but the Chevy has been the company's mainstay for 30 years. Ron finds the low-rpm aspect of the Challenge as the biggest question mark. As Ron puts it, "You know, there is very little documentation of high-horsepower engines running at 2,500 rpm, so we are all kind of stabbing and steering right now trying to get a feel for what we really need to have. Maybe even a longer stroke would be better." Ron emphasizes the importance of ring seal in oil and combustion control: "We had everything designed around low-speed sealing, so our rings are a little fatter; we're using 1/16-, 1/16-, 3/16-inch rings, with a Total Seal top."

Charles, a runner-up two years running, has fielded Chevrolet engines exclusively. The new combo was built on the accepted long-stroke theory, with the cylinder heads much modified to develop a working combination. The engine experienced detonation and was hurt in qualifying, so Williams elected to withdraw rather than risk further engine damage.